BROWNWOOD, Texas – The Belhaven Women's Soccer team scored twice in the final four and a half minutes to come-from-behind and defeat Howard Payne on Thursday afternoon at Citizens National Bank Field.
Belhaven (5-9-1) would strike first in the 13th minute.
Jessica Mahoney took a shot at 10:51 and it was saved by the Howard Payne goalie. Almost two minutes later, at 12:35,
Laura Quintero passed the ball to Mahoney to put through the net for her fourth goal of the season to give the Blazers the early 1-0 advantage.
In the second half, the Lady Jackets (3-9-2) were able to get the ball through the net to tie the match at one apiece in the 82th minute.
About four minutes later, in the 86th minute, the Blazers drew a foul in the box.
Ashley Harber took the penalty kick and was able to get the ball through the goalkeeper to give the Blazers the 2-1 lead. With that goal, Harber now has four game-winning goals on the season and eight in her career with Belhaven.
With 54 seconds to go, Quintero added her second goal of the season to pad the lead to 3-1 to seal the win.
"The last 10 minutes were back and forth for both teams. They got a counter attack that caught us off guard and leveled the score," said head coach
Josue Sabillon. "We created a play with
Savannah Raines up the middle to free up
Dani Craft and Quintero, which created a direct play for Mahoney who drew the foul. The third goal was all Quintero, as she dribbled past three defenders for an excellent finish."
Freshman goalkeeper
Alexis Molero gave up the one goal, but she saved seven shots from the Lady Jackets offense.
"I was very proud of the way our team responded after we were scored on," Sabillon added. "We were poised to answer back all the way to the end."
Belhaven defeats Howard Payne for the first time in program history as they also notched their 20th win against institutions from the state of Texas (20-16-4). With the win, the Blazers are 18-7-2 against current ASC institutions.
Belhaven will wrap up the 2015 regular season on Saturday afternoon against Texas at Dallas. The Halloween match is scheduled for 1 p.m. at the Comet Soccer Complex in Richardson, Texas.
